High court upholds key part of Obama health law

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Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act react to the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court outside the court in Washington, June 28, 2012. The Supreme Court largely let stand President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts affirming the central legislative pillar of Obama's term.

Published: 28 June 2012 09:10 AM

Updated: 03 July 2012 03:51 PM

THE RULING

Health care law survives - with Roberts' help | VideoAmerica's historic health care overhaul, certain now to touch virtually every citizen's life, narrowly survived an election-year battle at the Supreme Court Thursday with the improbable help of conservative Chief Justice John Roberts.

A look at the ruling upholding ObamacareThe Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care law, including the most disputed part: the mandate that virtually all Americans have health insurance or pay a fine. The mandate was upheld under the federal government's power to levy taxes.

Q&A: What does the law mean for you?Free vaccines for kids, cheaper drugs for the elderly and many other benefits of President Barack Obama's health care law are already out there. More are coming, like a guaranteed right to buy health insurance even for patients with serious medical troubles. Many businesses and wealthy taxpayers, however, will see their costs go up.

Winners and losers in ruling | VideoThe decision leaves a trail of winners and losers, from Main Street, USA, to the very steps of the Supreme Court. For some, it's a mixed bag.

Massachusetts health law may bode well for federal lawMassachusetts has the nation's highest rate of residents with health insurance. Visits to emergency rooms are beginning to ease. More residents are getting cancer screenings and more women are making prenatal doctors' visits. Still, one of the biggest challenges for the state lies ahead: reining in spiraling costs.

What experts say about impact to companiesThe Supreme Court's decision Thursday to uphold President Barack Obama's historic overhaul is expected to boost the health care, but not every corner of the sector will benefit.

Texans may face federal insurance exchangesTexans may soon be buying health insurance the way they buy electricity — in a marketplace where consumers can shop for policies with the same “apples to apples” comparisons they use to weigh electricity rates.

Ruling should ease pressure on emergency rooms, Dallas providers sayOvercrowded emergency rooms, a major issue at North Texas hospitals, should eventually get some relief because of Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the health care law. That’s the opinion of the leaders of the three largest not-for-profit health care systems in the region.

Texas insurers wary of rulingTexas health insurers reacted warily to Thursday's court ruling, stressing innovations under way in the health care marketplace rather than the law's impact on their way of doing business.

Businesses react to rulingThe new look of employer-provided health insurance has survived intact. Families can keep adult children on their policies until age 26. There won’t be co-pays for preventive care, and there won’t be limits on what insured patients can spend in a year or a lifetime. But that comes at a cost.

Spin meter: Meet the health care taxIt looks like a tax, smells like a tax, and the Supreme Court says it must be a tax. But politicians in both parties are squirming over how to define the Thing in President Barack Obama's health care law that requires people to pay up if they don't get health insurance.

Fact check: Buyer beware in health debate President Barack Obama promises nothing will change for people who like their health coverage except it'll become more affordable, but the facts don't back him up. Mitt Romney groundlessly calls the health care law a slayer of jobs certain to deepen the national debt. Welcome to the health care debate 2.0. As the claims fly, buyer beware.

For Obama, a transcendent win still not assuredPresidents live in a world of wins and losses quickly forgotten. Rarely are they presented with the kind of defining moment that President Barack Obama experienced when the Supreme Court upheld his health care law. It's one that will transcend his presidency, change America's social safety net and shape how he is likely to be remembered. Then there's the catch.

For Romney, there's no escaping health careReminders of the Republican presidential candidate's signature achievement as Massachusetts governor - a sweeping state health care overhaul - now are everywhere. And Democrats and liberal are making sure everyone knows that Romney's requirement that all people have health insurance was the basis of the federal mandate that the Supreme Court just upheld as a tax.

Democrats savor victory in ruling - for nowLove or hate President Barack Obama's signature health care law, its survival in the Supreme Court was sweet vindication for the Democrats who took enormous political risks - and paid with the loss of 64 seats and their House majority - to pass the law on their watch in 2010.

GOP: Voters will have final say on health care lawRepublican congressional leaders said Sunday that voters - not the Supreme Court - will have the final word on President Barack Obama's health care law come November. And they are betting that the law's unpopularity will be enough to drive Democrats from power. The White House's response? Bring it on.

Some GOP states want to abandon Medicaid expansionRepublicans in at least three states want to abandon an expansion of Medicaid in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, and more than a dozen other states are considering it in the wake of the Supreme Court decision removing the threat of federal penalties.

Obama, Romney seize on ruling | Obama video|Romney videoBattling fiercely for the White House, President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney implored voters to see the Supreme Court's health care ruling in different ways Thursday, with Obama appealing for people to move on with him and his challenger promising to rip up the law.

More nuanced view of Roberts after health care lawChief Justice John Roberts could have taken down the entire, massive health care law that his fellow Republicans deride as "Obamacare." He could have prevented the Supreme Court decision that largely disabled the most disputed aspects of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants. He didn't do either, and in the process surprised (or dismayed) longtime court observers of every political stripe.

U.S. health care reform efforts through history | VideoThe Supreme Court's ruling on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law follows a century of debate over what role the government should play in helping people in the United States afford medical care.

Editorial: Ruling an ironic win for ObamaA 5-4 Supreme Court majority said Thursday that the health care law’s insurance requirement was a tax, not a mandate of commerce, placing it within Congress’ legal authority. This was among the ironies to emerge from the nuanced, restrained decision.

Editorial: Beyond red and blue statesChief Justice John Roberts confounded his conservative supporters Thursday when he sided with liberal Supreme Court justices in upholding the Affordable Care Act. In our view, he showed superb leadership during one of the most important political moments in the court's history.

Carl Leubsdorf: Court decision is in; now we await election verdictThe Supreme Court's dramatic decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act gives President Barack Obama a major political victory. But the controversial measure now becomes a major election issue and its future will remain in doubt at least until voters render their verdict this November.

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